


Ladynoir (July 2020)

by Jaded_nobody



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25040158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaded_nobody/pseuds/Jaded_nobody
Summary: Ladynoir snippets in July 2020. Read each of these snapshots of the love life of the two Parisian superheroes.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 19





	1. Stargazing

“If there is one thing I love about quarantine it’s less akumas.” Chat Noir laughed as he vaulted in front of Ladybug. His distaff counterpart rolled her eyes but smiled. 

“The ones who do show up are so predictable. How many people will get akumatized from cabin fever?” Granted there were still less akumas. 

“Hey, they are easier to beat when you get into the rhythm of them.” Chat Noir slowed to walk ahead of Ladybug while facing her. “I’m glad we have more time to just the two of us.” He spread his arms out in a grand display.

Ladybug shared Chat’s sentiments; they unfortunately never had the opportunity to spend much time together unless they had to fight an akuma. They tried to patrol Paris very early on- those plans were aborted when they realized the two of them wouldn’t be able to cover a city in a night. They did decide to meet up at night simply for the convenience of being able to deploy against an akuma during the late hours on the days when there were no akumas, otherwise they caught up on much needed sleep. 

They did get together during the week once or twice for an hour of rooftop running for fun.

After Covid-19 hit Paris they found themselves spending more time together than ever- Marinette was probably talking to him more than she usually would her friends. It was the best part of what was a bad situation for her and her family. 

“Take you and your disease ridden-” The boy at her school who said this to her didn’t finish his sentence before she punched him in the throat. 

At her school, before it closed, the ostracization was immediately obvious to her. Everyone pointedly gave her a wide berth. Luckily, everyone in her class were good people who wouldn’t discriminate. Unluckily, Lila is in her class. 

“My mother is currently working with WHO,” Lila enraptured her class with another one of her ridiculous tales. Only her and Adrien looked on in disbelief. 

“It’s horrible what the chinese are doing. They are absolutely apathetic to infecting the rest of us,” Lila eyes met Marinette’s in a smile. The young heroine barely stopped herself from breaking her desk in her grip.

“The chinese are victims too. We are all victims of the CCP,” Marinette said from her seat.

“Marinette,” Alya lighty chastised,” Lila isn’t trying to attack you for being chinese.”

“Never, I’m very sorry if you think that but the truth needs to be spoken,” Lila smiled, Marinette felt Adrien’s hand on her shoulder. 

Marinette wished it was just school bullying; she had become a bioweapon in the eyes of her fellow Parisians. When she walked down the street people ran the other way. When she sat on a bench everyone scattered off.

Marinette wished it stopped with her. The bakery had seen a decrease in customers. They had been classified as an essential business, her grandmother even agreed to work as their delivery service to make up for reduced service capacity. People stopped coming strangely. Nadja had stopped asking Marinette to babysit, which was strange since her work would only increase given the times. Marinette called to ask but was informed she didn’t want to,“impose on them during these times.” 

Her family pretended it was simply quarantine that was the cause of their increasing isolation. Tikki nuzzled Marinette’s cheek when she heard her parents late into the night crying into each other's arms; both felt determined everything was fine more than ever. 

“Yeah I’ve really needed this,” Ladybug said. “Things haven’t been going well for me during these times.”

“Is it financial?” Adrien would figure out a way to funnel money to his Lady. “I promise I can-”

“No,” she waved him down. “We are just seeing how the crisis changes people. How quick people are to scapegoat.” 

“Yeah,” Adrien remembered seeing Marinette being singled out in school. He should call her later to see how she’s doing; they’ve kept somewhat in contact when he stops by for a snack at the bakery. “You have to admit though, it’s amazing to be able to dash through Paris without crowds of people buzzing about.”

“It is,” she chuckled. “It hasn’t been too bad. I’ve also seen people are truly what I hope they were.” Adrien made sure to frequent her family’s bakery whenever he could, generously tipping.

“With Paris so quiet it feels like we are the only two people in the world- here in the city of light under an ocean of stars,” Chat Noir dripped sardonic wistfulness. 

“The sky is as black as ever,” Ladybug pointed up to emphasize her point. “I think it has something to do with all the lights, actually.”

“Yes it does. It’s a phenomenon called light pollution. Artificial light washes away natural starlight from the sky. It makes astronomy a bit difficult,” Chat said dejectedly. 

“I’ve gotten the impression you come from at least a little money. Maybe you could go to the countryside to observe the stars.”

“That is a little difficult due to our current commitments.” His father would also view that as a waste of time that could be spent for the Gabriel brand. “I would rather be doing super heroics than watching dots of light in the sky anyway,” Chat boasted in his usual silly voice.

“Chat could I ask you a question?” Ladybug appraised her long time partner cautiously.

She reluctantly spoke after receiving his consent. “Are you happy this all happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you happy Hawk Moth exists? Are you happy we have to spend our free time fighting supervillains who terrorize the city? Do you view this as escapism?”

“. . . I won’t lie, I enjoy the thrill of this job sometimes,” Chat Noir confessed. “ I do prioritize Hawk Moth’s defeat. Believe me, if I could wave a wand so things never turned out this way I would.” He took in a breath. “The only thing I am truly happy about is that I met you.” 

“You would be okay never doing this then? That would mean we never meet.” Ladybug loved her friend, he was her other half- platonically. 

“There’s no way I couldn’t run into someone as amazing as you. The world isn’t big enough for me to miss you.”

“My civilian form is nowhere near as outspoken.” That isn’t due to a lack of confidence. When she’s Marinette people don’t respect her nearly as much as they do Ladybug. 

“Mine isn’t blind,” Chat countered. Ladybug felt herself crossed by that comment.

“You shouldn’t expect me to be beautiful.” She was definitely above average, but not a beauty who drew every eye in the room.

“Your superficial appearance wouldn’t be what draws my eye, rather your vibrant inner life.”

“Go back to puns. This poetry is so cheesy.” 

“Better than clawful,” he joked, he knew it wasn’t a funny joke. Ladybug was so glad Chat burned through every feline pun in existence until even he got bored of them.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t notice you with that horrible sense of humor.”

“I’ll have you know that my civilian form is the perfect refined gentleman,” he took a, legitimately, impressive bow forward. 

“Yeah right.” Most men think they’re suave. Adrien is what they all think they are perceived as; Chat must have the same delusions. 

The heroes descended into tension when the lights around them faded. Every street lamp darkened, blown out like a candle. They looked around to see darkness settling in every corner of the city. Any presence of light quickly faded leaving no trace behind.

“Chat can you see?” Her night vision had always been terrible.

“Perfectly,” His pupil expanded to leave only a slim rim of green. “Do you think it’s an akuma? A black out?”

“I doubt it’s an akuma. What powerset would give it the ability to do this? As powerful as they can get, akumas can’t really affect large swathes of land like this.”

“It’s probably a black out then,” his sensitive eyes spotted something. “Inside the houses, there’s still power.” True enough Ladybug was able to make the windows glowing like lightning bugs in the pitch black.

“Maybe the mayor is encouraging people to stay inside by turning off all lights?” It would be plausible. She didn’t really follow the news so it’s not like she’d be informed of this.

“Poss-” Chat Noir gaped up above him. Ladybug followed his line of sight only to be left in a similar state. 

When the city lights went away the entire universe became visible again. The familiar splashes of stars that were the Milky Way were evident. 

“Make a wish,” Chat suddenly broke the silence. “There’s a shooting star right there.” He pointed at a streaking flash of light. “I actually read about it recently, NASA noticed a comet streaking by, didn’t think I would get to see it with my own eyes.” 

Chat Noir closed his eyes to think. Ladybug smiled and shook her head, before looking at him and closing her eyes. 

“What did you wish for?” Chat Noir asked after their moment of silence.

“That would mean forfeiting any chance of it coming true.”

“Which would increase the chances of mine coming true.” Ladybug hit him in the shoulder. He gently rubbed grinning. “I’ll tell you mine.”

“Then it won’t come true,” she teased him.

“My wish is to teach you each constellation in the sky.” 

“Let’s see then,” She didn’t even know where the big dipper was. “Can you do it?”

Ladybug felt herself fall further into Chat Noir’s arms as the night progressed. His voice became silkier and warmer too. She felt herself becoming tired and sleepy. Chat did too.

Come morning when they both woke up on the rooftop, Ladybug had to tell him his wish didn’t come true, she did thank him for making her wish come true.


	2. Denial

The secrecy between Ladybug and Chat Noir was familiar. Over time even the feline superhero who so desperately wanted to know his distaff counterpart’s identity came to find the freedom in having a second life with a woman who was always so mysterious to him. Chat Noir would like to know the truth one day but was satisfied with their current arrangement; Ladybug too wanted to increase the intimacy between the two of them one day after Hawkmoth was defeated.

Both children never had their hopes ever go completely right in their lives. That constant of loss and disappointment is what brought them where they are now.

The two of them had just defeated a below average akuma; it’s relatively low difficulty gave them a sense of lax. Their transformations were beginning to fall when they noticed the news helicopters.

Quickly they scatter off to hide- it just so happens they both noticed the relative lack of cover. They were in the high rise section of Paris. If they leapt anywhere there wouldn’t be any cover that eyes wouldn’t follow them to. 

“Manhole!” Chat Noir pulled Ladybug along to duck into the parisian sewer system. Putrid thick air contaminated by waste water invaded his nose in an instant, his nostrils flared to resist. 

“Turn around!” Ladybug quickly spun on her heel after they settled in the hall.

“Got it. Feed Tikki, I have some cheese on me for Plagg.” he pressed his back against her’s.

A flash spread through the heroes reverting them to parisian citizens. Tikki and Plagg came back to life eagerly snatching snacks from their chosen wielders.

“I wish the spot for our picnic was better, sugar cube.” The cat god pinched his nose.

“It smells worse than your cheese,” Tikki reposted, enjoying Plagg’s gasp. 

In one universe they would have quickly replenished their kwami before leaping back into the city above; subsequently they would have done their customary fist pump before going their separate ways. 

This wasn’t that universe.

Adrien would later blame, for a second before being overcome with guilt, Nino for what happened. His best friend aspired to be a DJ; Nino’s future in that regard was all but secured. His craft was always being polished brilliantly- Adrien would often be asked to be the first person to hear his newest tunes. When one of his mixes actually broke into the top 1000 on spotify Nino was overjoyed.

Nino quickly offered Adrien the opportunity to have one of his first big hits, to him anyway, be his newest ringtone. Adrien, of course, agreed.

“Phone’s ringing kid,” Plagg commented to the sudden flare of tunes over bites. Adrien wasn’t scandalized at the time. What would it ultimately matter that Ladybug heard his ringtone? He would just let it pass- it was most likely Nathalie calling about why he was taking such a long break during a photoshoot. 

“Nino’s big song.” Marinette whispered to herself. 

It could have been contained there. With Marinette suspecting Adrien since only three people downloaded such a relatively unpopular tune, sorry Nino. 

At that moment Marinette’s phone rang- it was probably her parents who went up into her room only to discover she was gone. The ring was exactly the same, it took Adrien a moment to realize it wasn’t an echo on the walls of the pipes.

Tikki just smiled sympathetically at her. 

Adrien was there to see Nino be asked for his song as Alya’s ringtone. Marinette wanted to be included in this group move so followed along. 

Both were in shock when their kwamis finished- Plagg and Tikki nudged their charges back to their senses, Tikki far more gentler. They quickly separated without acknowledgement. 

The first stage of grief is always shock- which quickly wears off. The second stage- denial- isn’t necessarily so quick to fade. In some cases it lasts for a short period of time. In others it can go on indefinitely as some people aren’t or refuse to recognize reality. 

“Nino’s song did get some attention,” Adrien told Plagg. “It’s not a surprise Chat Noir would make it his ringtone. It was pretty catchy.” Marinette said to Tikki in her bedroom. Tikki knew Marinette needed time to process what happened so didn’t point out the obvious physical similarities or hints which became obvious stepping stones for what should have been apparent. Plagg just wanted his cheese. 

In school tomorrow when Adrien saw Marinette acting jittery that wasn’t strange- which it really wasn’t. When Adrien kept stealing nervous glances at her, Marinette knew he was just worried for her.

During breaks when the famous quad caught together to hangout in the canteen, Marinette and Adrien couldn’t break eye contact if they wanted to. The spell was only broken when they noticed Nino and Alya sitting at another table giggling. 

“. . . so Marinette, how was yesterday?”

“Fine. How about you,” Marinette’s word hurried on her tongue. “Can I ask you something?”

“Suuuure,” Adrien felt the world out.

“You are always super busy? So you wouldn’t have time to do anything else?” Marinette had his entire schedule memorized. Nowhere in there is supernatural crime fighting listed.

“Easily,” he lied. “Why are you always late to everything? It’s none of my business but it is a running theme.” Marinette would clear things up for him.

“I stay up late working on designs.” That wasn’t a total lie. “I have a habit of not being able to say no to people.” That certainly wasn’t a lie. “My schedule can get overloaded.” 

Adrien trusted Marinette. She was one of the few people who he knew would never lie to him.

Later on during their patrol the two heroes cleared the air.

“I heard your ringtone.” Ladybug told Chat Noir. “It matched mine.”

“Spotify recommended it to me due to my previous song choices.” That wasn’t a lie. He had listened to Nino’s music enough times for the algorithm to realize his preferences.

“Me too.” 

That made sense. Their kwamis’s exasperated and sardonic looks were just imagined. There’s no way they wouldn’t have realized this sooner.

Absolutely.


	3. Disguises

It took three failed attempts for Ladybug and Chat Noir to realize patrols were a bad idea. They were unable to cover the distance in a single night, were rarely in the area an akuma appeared in, and it just increased the odds of someone mapping where they probably lived. 

That didn’t change that the two were in agreement; it was a good idea for them to be able to meet. Doing it in costume was too hard even without patrol since if Hawkmoth knew where they were he was apt to send an akuma after them, neither wanted to talk in alleyways, sewers, or whatever odd nook would enable them to avoid phone cameras. It would also mean their kwamis were unable to chime in, Ladybug was more concerned about this than Chat Noir. 

Thus Adrien borrowed some tricks from his colleagues from modelling.

“The magic extends out of costume?” Marinette fastened her grey hoodie carefully in order to not knock her large sunglasses off her face. 

“The concealment magic will follow since you are expecting Chat Noir.” Tikki cheerfully answered. 

Marinette didn’t want to wear hair dye, she didn’t want to mess up her hair for Adrien’s sake. She had made sure to follow Chat’s advice of obscuring as much of herself as possible. Her large grey hoodie covered her hair while large black sunglasses took care of her eyes and upper face. A plain skirt that reached the floor adorned her lower half. 

“Over here LB!” A boy called out from an outdoor cafe table. The girl in question was perturbed by the call before running over while pulling her hood down.

“CN,” she chastised him over attracting attention. 

They had agreed on referring to themselves by initials while under disguised. Ladybug pushed for it, she didn’t want to risk it, all it took was one person looking at them weirdly. Chat Noir was nonplussed by her displeasure. 

“Acting fidgety and anxious typically only attracts suspicion, people would deduce you have something to worry over.” Ladybug couldn’t argue there. She found herself too distracted anyway.

From what she could see of his face, Chat Noir was pretty appealing to look at. His hair was dyed a common chestnut brown but it’s texture was easily silky smooth- it was expertly combed. He had also settled on sunglasses but his nose was finely sculpted with a boyishly masculine chin. 

“Should we get to business?”

Not that there was much business to go over. After mulling it over Ladybug wondered why they needed to meet. All they really did was eat and talk. Chat Noir just revealed he had a pretty lousy imagination- his akuma ideas were terrible, a swizz cheese based banker!? Things had proceeded pretty well, they betted on what they thought would be the most ridiculous akumatizations they would encounter.

Until the bill. 

“Chat let me pay for what I ordered.” She needed to destroy the illusion he was dating her now.

“I suggested the idea of the cafe,” he pointed out.

“I agreed under the condition this wasn’t a date.” This boy was insufferable.

“It’s the host job to handle the expenses of the outing.”

She scoffed. “As if you are some fancy cat.” Her leg beeped. That was probably her parents asking when she would be home.

Chat picked up on Ladybug’s predicament. He didn’t view what he said next as exploitation.

“I’ll pay for this time, you can cover next time.” He attempted a conciliatory smile.

She read her dad’s text under the table. “Fine.” She needed to run anyway.

Ladybug had a feeling most of their meetings weren’t going to be productive at all. 

Oh well. It’s not like she didn’t have fun, and they should bond as teammates anyway.


	4. Banter

“Oh my god!” Ladybug sighed. “If you thought more about who Hawk Moth is we would probably have caught him by now.”

“You know. What can either of us really do to investigate Hawk Moth?” Chat asked, his face still plastered in a grin from his previous ‘joke’. 

“Simple,” Ladybug only managed to utter that one word. Her mouth froze in the attempt to produce more.

“Isn’t the Guardian the best person to investigate? He hasn’t told me everything, I’m not sure how much he told you. So how could we even do this with our limited knowledge to begin with; putting aside our lack of training in sleuthing.”

“Could we be doing this forever then?”

A horrifying flash took Marinette’s vision. It was her having to duck out of hanging out with friends to fight akumas. Her friends become estranged, gradually replacing her with the taunting image of Lila. She was older now. During the middle of a scintillating interview with THE Gabriel Agreste she had to run out to help her partner who was being strangled by an Akuma. Her parents are disappointed with how irresponsible she is and throw her out onto the streets. Completely alone, she ends up marrying Chat Noir.

“You okay!” Chat’s voice jerked her back to awareness. “You just started hyperventilating.” 

“I can’t do this forever Chat,” Ladybug whispered scaredly. 

“What? We won’t.”

“How do you know? Hawk Moth could keep sending out an Akuma everyday wearing us down. There’s no way to prevent that.”

Chat Noir knew Ladybug really wanted to end the threat to Paris once for all. Her concerns were valid. But he just wasn’t scared of that. The experience of being a superhero and fighting crime with a beautiful girl was amazing. It could go on forever without a complaint from him.

“Hawkmoth will get desperate. He’ll get frustrated too, except he won’t have a loveable partner to keep him going.” Chat smile faded when he felt Ladybug respond indifferently. 

“What if he doesn’t?”

“What if he just dies early?” Chat asked rhetorically. “Anything could happen, and this is what the purple fashion disaster wants. You panicking over this will defeat you internally. A person who has defeated himself has already lost.” 

“Maybe you are right.” Ladybug’s breathing slowed.

“I would hope so. The fortune cookie I got that from tasted pretty good. In my-”

“GOD STOP!” 

Chat Noir flinched at his distaff counterpart's hoarse scream. 

“For once in your life take this seriously. All you ever do is have fun and play games while I need to think about the repercussions of our fun little adventures.” She spoke the word ‘adventures’ venomously. “This is why I don’t want to date you. You seem to think you are owed this by whatever movies you idle that day away with.” Ladybug felt herself oddly relieved at the end of her little rant. Chat’s shaking form made her heat sink. 

“Chat I-”

“Yes you did.”

The two just remained silent. One in agony over what she said and the other in agony of what was said to him.

“I won’t flirt with you anymore.” The boy’s tone was forlorn. “I’ll stop with the stupid-”

“No,” she lamented. She paused for a breath. “Your attitude can be a beam of levity, but there are times I really don’t need it. Times it just makes me feel even more alone in carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.” She heard nothing from Chat. 

“I like you the way you are. It would be an improvement if you were more mature.” 

“I’ll try,” Chat Noir mumbled. 

“Hey,” Ladybug encouraged,” I can’t say the time I have to spend with you while fighting akumas is miserable.”

“Thanks.” Chat felt a bubble of suppressed resentment rising. “If you want me to help stop cutting me out.”

“You and Fu never include me,” he cut in before she could ask. “The oldman has done nothing but take me out for tea. That fortune cookie line I got was from a fortune cookie he actually gave me during one of our tea sessions.”

“Wait, he only had tea with you?” Marinette had gotten detailed lessons on the order of the guardians and the history of the miraculous. Chat Noir wasn’t getting any of it?

“Pretty much.” Chat Noir admitted.

“After we get out of here, I am taking you to the guardian.” Ladybug had to keep herself from seething. Really Master Fu?

“How long until we are lowered into this vat of acid?” Chat tried to lean from back to see. Ladybug was positioned to face down towards the liquid when they tied together on the hook.

“About an eternity,” she said to the partner pressed above her. “That’s how long it took in those old comics the akuma obsessed over.” 

“People need to stop taking children’s entertainment so seriously.” 

“Didn’t you gush over how ascended the medium of anime is?”

“Ladybug don’t destroy our friendship,” Chat Noir warned.

“I guess some things will never change.” Ladybug's slight smile betrayed her annoyance.


End file.
